Legend Management Bureau Chapter 115

[ … words ]

“Dong… Qian… Qiu…” Qu Xi wrote the name down character by character, then asked, “Is that ‘Qianqiu’ as in ‘throughout eternity’?”

Dong Qianqiu nodded, then looked around, revealing a complex smile.

“That’s a really nice name,” Qu Xi said with a smile. “Dong Qianqiu. With a name like that, it sounds like you understand everything about eternity.”

Dong Qianqiu remained silent, continuing to look around in a daze.

“When can you start work?” Qu Xi asked.

“Right now.”

“Alright, and where do you live?” Qu Xi asked while keeping her head down, writing something. “Do you need us to arrange accommodation?”

“My home…” Dong Qianqiu looked around blankly and replied, “Is right here.”

“Oh?” Qu Xi voiced her confusion. “Do you live near Mount Bugui?”

Qu Xi paused her writing, not quite understanding what the woman in front of her meant.

Xiao Qi happened to be walking over with a stack of documents. Seeing this scene from afar, all the papers in her hands scattered across the floor.

“Sister Qianqiu?!”

Just as Dong Qianqiu turned her head, Xiao Qi lunged forward like a pet seeing its owner. She threw her arms around Dong Qianqiu in a massive bear hug, lifting her own feet off the ground to hang directly from her body.

Dong Qianqiu stared in surprise for a moment, then reached out and patted Xiao Qi’s head. “I heard earlier that you were fine. That’s truly wonderful.”

Xiao Qi buried her face deep into Dong Qianqiu’s chest and burst into loud sobs.

“Sister Qianqiu, I was so scared! I was really scared to death!” Xiao Qi sobbed, choking on her words. “I thought you dissipated, and I thought I was going to dissipate too.”

Dong Qianqiu gently stroked Xiao Qi’s head, much like petting a small kitten.

“Yes, and it was all because of me… Everyone else dissipated…” Dong Qianqiu murmured with helpless remorse. “If only I had discovered the Director’s intentions sooner…”

Red-eyed, Xiao Qi looked up at Dong Qianqiu and said, “Sister Qianqiu, you’re still calling him the Director?! Do you have any idea how terrifying he is?”

As she spoke, Xiao Qi hopped down and placed her hands around her own neck, demonstrating for Dong Qianqiu.

“He just went like this and snapped my neck with a loud crack!” Xiao Qi started crying again as she spoke. “Even though I knew I wouldn’t die, I was genuinely terrified that he would snap your neck just like that.”

“He did… Aside from my neck, every bone in my body was broken. The Director wanted me to die a slow death… Haha…” Dong Qianqiu let out a bitter laugh and said, “I was willing to give my life for him, yet he wanted to torture me to death…”

Xiao Qi looked at Dong Qianqiu’s face and found her unusually calm. The blow this incident had dealt her must have been far greater than anyone else could imagine; the wounds she suffered went much deeper than mere flesh and bone.

Dong Qianqiu slowly turned her head toward Qu Xi and asked, “Are you a new staff member too?”

Seeing the situation unfold, Qu Xi naturally understood that Dong Qianqiu must be a senior figure. She could only nod politely and reply, “Yes… I just arrived a couple of days ago…”

Xiao Qi rubbed her eyes and said to Dong Qianqiu, “Sister Qianqiu, regarding this Miss Qu Xi, I actually have something to tell you. Du Yu seems to have discovered the conditions for an ‘Operator’ to appear!”

“Conditions?!” Dong Qianqiu was stunned for a moment before asking, “Is that true?”

“It’s hard to say. Right now, it’s just a highly probable theory.” Xiao Qi thought for a second before adding, “Ah, let’s not talk about that for now. Your return is a massive cause for celebration! Let me take you to see Du Yu first!”

Xiao Qi dragged Dong Qianqiu along as they dashed forward, eventually finding Du Yu dozing off while invigilating the exam hall.

“Du Yu! Look who’s here!” Xiao Qi smacked Du Yu, and this time, it was his turn to jump in fright.

“Holy crap!” Du Yu jolted up and tumbled right out of his chair.

Seeing Du Yu in such a state, Dong Qianqiu could not help but smile faintly.

How wonderful. He was still the same old him—neither injured nor disheartened.

“Sis-Sis-Sis-Sister Qianqiu?!” Du Yu exclaimed. “You’ve fully recovered?! You were still in a coma the last time I went to see you.”

“Mhm.” Dong Qianqiu gave a slight nod. “The Daode Tianzun’s elixirs are incredibly potent. They said it would take seven days to heal, but I woke up on the fourth.”

“Even if you woke up, you shouldn’t be moving around recklessly.” Du Yu got up and helped guide Dong Qianqiu to his chair. “Here, here, Sister Qianqiu, have a seat.”

Unable to dissuade Du Yu, Dong Qianqiu obliged and sat down before asking, “How are things progressing on your end? I heard from the Seventh and Eighth Lords that you guys have been furiously conducting recruitment drives.”

“Haha, please excuse the mess,” Du Yu chuckled. “When it comes to recruiting staff for the Legend Administration, we really have to rely on you, Sister Qianqiu. A layman like me leading a bunch of other laymen has just resulted in us running around like headless chickens.”

“Nonsense… You were just sleeping…” Xiao Qi muttered under her breath.

“How many people have you recruited so far?” Dong Qianqiu asked.

“Uh…” Du Yu blanked for a second. “I haven’t tallied them up in two days, so I don’t actually know…”

“Nine Sound Transmitters and thirty-one Auxiliaries,” Xiao Qi supplied.

Dong Qianqiu nodded and said, “Your recruitment method is quite novel and highly effective. In the past, the Direc—He Suoyi and I spent decades just to recruit forty-five people. Now, you have managed to recruit forty in a mere two days. I imagine it will not be long before you reach our previous numbers.”

“Exactly, Sister Qianqiu.” Du Yu nodded. “Now that you’re back, we’re going to hand the ‘staff training’ over to you.”

“Rather than staff training…” Dong Qianqiu trailed off before asking, “Where are those nine Sound Transmitters?”

“They should all be in their rooms…” Du Yu said. “Why do you ask?”

“I need to see them,” Dong Qianqiu stated. “Sound Transmitters all possess their own innate ‘abilities’. I was the one who created the method to awaken those ‘abilities’. Give me a little time, and I will draw out all their hidden talents.”

“Ah! You’re right!” Du Yu suddenly realized. “I almost forgot that Sound Transmitters all have different ‘abilities’. Before I even had the chance to understand the previous Transmitters, they…”

No sooner had the words left his mouth than Du Yu realized his slip-up. He glanced at Xiao Qi and Dong Qianqiu, noticing the flash of sorrow on both their faces.

“Ah, I talk too much,” Du Yu backpedaled. “Our most pressing priority right now is to rebuild the Legend Administration and get back to work as quickly as possible. Only then can we honor the spirits of those dedicated seniors in heaven.”

Dong Qianqiu and Xiao Qi nodded in solemn agreement.

“Sister Qianqiu, do you need my help?” Xiao Qi asked.

“There’s no need.” Dong Qianqiu shook her head. “I just need to cast a spell on them.”

With that, Dong Qianqiu temporarily bid the two farewell and headed to the Sound Transmitters’ dormitories.

Du Yu finally felt completely at ease. Now that Dong Qianqiu had returned, even though she looked somewhat weak and sorrowful, she was truly back. As for the wounds in her heart, time would simply have to heal them.

Just as Dong Qianqiu turned to leave, she spotted a man dressed in black and froze in her tracks.

“Zhan…” Dong Qianqiu mouthed slightly.

“Dong Qianqiu, I trust you have been well,” Zhan Qisheng said, his expression completely blank.

Dong Qianqiu remained silent for a moment before lowering her head. “I am sorry for what happened before.”

“Hmm?” Zhan Qisheng hadn’t expected her first words to him to be an apology. He shook his head and replied, “Why apologize? Was I in the right either?”

Du Yu stepped forward, placing himself between the two, and chimed in, “Back then, Sister Qianqiu was a new employee, and Old Zhan was an arrogant hothead. It’s totally normal that you two clashed a bit. Now that everyone’s back, we’re all still good friends!”

Dong Qianqiu gave a slight nod. For some reason, the moment she saw Zhan Qisheng, she couldn’t help but think of He Suoyi.

This subtle feeling wrapped around her, lingering stubbornly in the back of her mind, yet she knew that Zhan Qisheng was a victim too.

With the help of Dong Qianqiu, Xiao Qi, Qu Xi, Zhan Qisheng, Ying Ning, Shen Shi, Xie Jin, and a host of others, Du Yu finally finished interviewing everyone.

The interview process lasted five days, with a total of seven thousand nine hundred and sixty participants.

In total, they recruited fourteen “Sound Transmitters”, fifty “Auxiliaries”, and three for the “Props Team”.

A grand total of sixty-seven people.

The Sound Transmitters were all sent to Dong Qianqiu for advanced training, the Auxiliaries were following Old Mister Pu Songling to learn fundamental legend lore, and the Props Team was executing a secret mission assigned by Du Yu.

Once the recruitment concluded, Du Yu specifically drafted a summary letter and tasked Xiao Qi with delivering it to the Queen Mother of the West. Xiao Qi stubbornly refused at first, kicking up a massive fuss, and only reluctantly agreed after Zhan Qisheng personally asked her.

“Everything is ready… Now all that’s left is the ‘Exchange Conference’ the day after tomorrow.”

Heeding Dong Qianqiu’s advice, Du Yu arranged for everyone to hurry up and rest for a day to prepare for the looming “great battle.”

“Du Yu,” Dong Qianqiu called out, noticing him spacing out.

“Hmm? What’s up, Sister Qianqiu?”

“Are you confident… about those foreign legends?” Dong Qianqiu asked.

“To be completely honest… I’m not that confident.” Du Yu shook his head slightly. “We constantly run into issues when entering our own country’s legends, let alone those of other nations…”

Dong Qianqiu nodded silently and replied, “The situation this time is so extraordinary, yet the burden has to be dumped entirely on a mortal Operator like you. It truly is a difficult position for you to be in…”

“Oh, right, Sister Qianqiu… Stop saying I’m the only Legend Operator. We’ve been so busy lately that there are some things I haven’t had the chance to tell you.”

Du Yu organized his thoughts, then shared his theory about the “Unjustly Deceased Grand Pivot”, as well as the fact that Ying Ning and Qu Xi could also enter legends.

Dong Qianqiu felt incredibly overwhelmed by this sheer volume of information. She stood there in a daze for quite a while before finally coming back to her senses.

“Are you saying… you are also a Grand Pivot?” Dong Qianqiu asked, bewildered.

“According to my deduction, that’s the only possibility,” Du Yu said. “Sister Qianqiu, you’ve witnessed countless legends. Do you know which legend I might have emerged from as a Grand Pivot?”

Dong Qianqiu furrowed her brows. “Ever since Zhan Qisheng disappeared, the Legend Administration has been keeping a very close eye on every single legend. If any ‘Grand Pivot’ appears, we record their name. No matter how many generations a particular lineage of a ‘Grand Pivot’ propagates, it is always kept on file. Yet… your name is nowhere in our records.”

“What does that mean?” Du Yu asked.

“It means that if you truly are a Grand Pivot, there are only two possibilities.” Dong Qianqiu pondered for a moment before explaining, “First, you are a ‘Primeval Grand Pivot’, meaning your lineage of the ‘Grand Pivot’ originated long before the Legend Administration was established. Second, you might be…”

Dong Qianqiu deliberated for a long while, unable to suppress a shudder of lingering fear. ‘Could Du Yu be the Grand Pivot born from Zhan Qisheng?’

She shook her head and said to Du Yu:

“Regardless of the truth, you must refrain from entering any ‘Primeval’ legends for the time being.”